On Vizquel and Bonds

I wasn’t going to make Omar Vizquel the focus of my game story this morning. I know I’ve laid it on thick with Vizquel stuff the last month or so, and I didn’t want to give short-shrift to Jonathan Sanchez and Jose Castillo, who had better games.

Then, I thought of all the ovations from the fans, the squeeze bunt, the play in the ninth, and I caved.

Anyway, there was a photo in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer this morning that showed an elderly woman leaning over the rail to kiss Vizquel on the cheek. It got me wondering. Would we ever see a photo like that of Barry Bonds in San Francisco?

I wonder. This has nothing to do with what kind of person Bonds was, but as popular as he was (and still is) he never seemed to give himself to the fans the way Vizquel did. Maybe the home runs were enough. What do you think?

By the way, check out this Terry Pluto column in today’s Plain-Dealer. Makes a lot of good points on Omar’s Hall of Fame chances.